Updated at 11:21 a.m., Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Big Isle police identify man killed in Mauna Kea crash
Advertiser Staff
A 34-year-old Honolulu man and a 33-year-old woman from Japan died Tuesday due to injuries they received in a one-vehicle crash on Mauna Kea Access Road, .4 miles northeast of John Burns Way, above the Mauna Kea Visitors Center.Hawai'i County police identified the man as Philip Patrick Y.M. Lung, 34, of Honolulu. His wife, 31-year-old Ryoko Lung, was seriously injured. She was taken by ambulance to Hilo Medical Center and then transferred to The Queen's Medical Center in serious condition.
The name of the other woman is being withheld pending positive identification and notification of next of kin.
Responding to a 2:26 p.m. call, South Hilo Patrol officers determined that Philip Lung was driving a red 2006 Jeep multi-purpose vehicle down Mauna Kea Access Road when he lost control around a curve and then ran off the road, down an embankment and overturned. The unidentified woman was ejected from the back of the Jeep.
Both Lung and the woman were transported to Hilo Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead.
Philip and Ryoko Lung were wearing their seat belts. The other woman was not. Police believe speed was a factor in the crash.
Traffic Enforcement unit officers are continuing the investigation and have ordered autopsies to determine the exact causes of death.
The deaths are the 11th and 12th fatalities on the Big Island this year compared with 11 at this time last year.
